August of 2004 found newly married Harley and Loranna Bontrager in Swartz Appliances in Goshen, the closest appliance shop to Topeka. Harley Bontrager mentioned to the owner that if he ever thought about selling his shop, Bontrager would be interested. He’d been wanting to do something himself beyond working at the factory and saw a future in providing appliances for Topeka. That day planted a seed, which sprouted nearly 10 years later when Swartz’s owner came to Topeka and took Bontrager up on his offer.
The business moved up to Topeka on March 15, 2014, and became Sunset Appliances. The name comes from the view of the sunsets the family has in Topeka.
Bontrager runs Sunset Appliances with his wife, Loranna Bontrager, and their two adult children, Andrew and Geneva Bontrager. In addition to Sunset Appliances, the Bontragers own an Ezee Glow heating stove store, which Geneva is also heavily involved in. All of Sunset Appliances’ service calls are conducted by Andrew.
“Our main goal is to attract newlyweds for a new refrigerator and a new range,” Bontrager says.
The purchase of a new refrigerator and a range comes with free delivery and hookup.
“It’s just us giving back to the customer, because not everybody has the means of hauling a new refrigerator and a range. And not everybody’s comfortable with hooking up gas appliances,” Bontrager says.
Sunset Appliances offers kitchen ranges, gas water heaters, gas refrigerators, energy-efficient appliances, Ezee Glow heating stoves, electric freezers, cost-efficient brass fittings for plumbing jobs, laundry spinners, wedding gift items, various gas and electric appliances and more. In addition to hooking up ranges, the Bontragers also do maintenance and recharge refrigerators.
While heaters are typically bought in the fall, Sunset Appliances sells and hooks them up year-round.
Topeka, Indiana, is a small town, and each business makes an impact on its customers. Even in just 10 years, Sunset Appliances has made an impact across generations.
“What I really notice is maybe the mom and dads have gotten something like a new refrigerator like eight or 10 years ago. Maybe now their children are getting married and now they walk into the store, [and] they say, mom and dad advised us to go to Sunset Appliances,” Bontrager says. “And that’s always good to hear like that.”
A small business has its bumps along the way, but over everything, the people are what make it all worth it.
“I would say my favorite thing is just interacting with the customer. It makes me feel good to sell somebody something that they really like,” Bontrager says. “Otherwise you have ups and downs in a business, in any business, and you’ll have times where something might not go as you want it to go. You just [have to] deal with them and try to just be honest and be upright with the customer and that’s [going to] go a long way.”
Sunset Appliances services the tri-county area, including LaGrange, Elkhart and Noble counties. For servicing inquiries, the Bontragers can be reached at 260-593-2384.
Visit Sunset Appliances at 6405 S. 900 West, Topeka, IN.
